Groningen: Karpov Beats Timman 2.5-1.5, Four-Way Tie in the Open

Anatoly Karpov defeated Jan Timman 2.5-1.5 in their short & friendly match in Groningen. During the last game, Timman played with a broken hand without his knowledge! The Open tournament ended in a four-way tie between Zaven Andriasian of Armenia and local heros GM Erwin l'Ami, GM Sipke Ernst & IM Benjamin Bok. The latter scored his third GM norm.

The first two game were somewhat uneventful draws, but the second half of the Timman-Karpov match was better. In game 3, played on Saturday, the two chess legends used one of the most topical openings of current top level chess: the Berlin Ending. With a thematic e5-e6 pawn push, Timman got a slight initiative but with the very solid 20...Be7! Karpov avoided real danger.

In the last game Timman employed the interesting 5...b5 line of the Queen's Indian but with simple developing moves, Karpov kept a slight edge due to pressure along the c-file. Black was very close to equalizing when the Dutchman suddenly blundered a full pawn, and then Karpov had no trouble coverting the full point.

Timman had a very good excuse for this last game. The night before he had fallen and hurt his right hand, and he must have suffered quite a bit from it (besides not sleeping too well). After the game he decided to visit a hospital, where it became clear that he had actually broken the hand! He came back for an interview with his old friend Hans Böhm, and with his hand supported by a sling he chatted in front of an audience of chess fans. “Eight years ago I also broke my hand and I cancelled my next tournament. But I won't to that this time. My next is Wijk aan Zee.”

Karpov and Timman, both 62 years old, played their match in the Groninger Museum. It was held twenty years after their historic world title match, won by Karpov 12.5-8.5. This match took place as a result of the unauthorized PCA match between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short. In the Candidates, Short had beaten Karpov in the semifinal and Timman in the final. The FIDE match between Karpov and Timman was played in Zwolle, Arnhem, Amsterdam, and Jakarta in November and December 1993.

Back to 2013. The match was a special side event held at the end of the Netherlands-Russia Year, but of course Groningen also hosted its traditional open tournament. Held in the Sport Center of the Rijksuniversiteit & Hanzehogeschool, the top group had 15 GMs, 22 IMs, 2 WGMs, 7 FMs and 3 WIMs.

In the 7th round, Dutch GM Erwin l'Ami grabbed sole lead with the following endgame grind. Against Evgeny Romanov of Russia, the Dutch GM ended up with an extra pawn but he had two knighst against two bishops for white. That should give enough compensation and the ending was a draw, but eventually the Russian GM succumbed to the pressure. 67.Bg7 should hold easily, whereas 67.Bc1? was a big mistake.

Another interesting endgame was seen in the game between two other Dutch players, Sipke Ernst vs. Benjamin Bok. White's advantage got bigger and bigger, but he failed to deliver the final blow on move 71.

In the penultimate round, the top board saw a relatively quick draw. Just like in the recent game Kramnik-Giri, Black took on g3 with the bishop and this time it was enough for a draw.

IM Bok secured a third GM norm with a round to spare with the following excellent win.

However, one of Bok's three norms was scored over 7 games instead of 9. This means that in his next tournament, the Challengers Group in Wijk aan Zee, Bok needs a 9-round norm instead of an 11-round norm to clinch the title.

Andrey Stukopin also secured a GM norm by drawing with Romanov. More interesting was his win from the previous round:

In the last round Bok and l'Ami drew in eight moves, and so they could enjoy the last round as spectators and wait who would join them in first place. Both Andriasian and Ernst did so:

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